As one of the most anticipated movies of the year gets ready to hit theatres this weekend, a former Innisfail resident can claim he's had a hand in bringing it to life.
Ron Miller is a part of the digital team that will breathe life into characters like Gollum when The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey hits the theatres Dec. 14. Miller will be working on all three movies making up the trilogy that will bring the beloved novel by J.R.R. Tolkien about a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins to the screen.
Miller works for Weta Digital, which is owned by Peter Jackson. The famed director is also at the helm of the Hobbit movies after his acclaimed adaptation of the Lord of the Rings books, with the last, The Return of the King, winning an Oscar for best picture.
“At Weta Digital one of the biggest things we do is create digital characters for movies like The Hobbit. Characters like Gollum, King Kong and all the digital characters in Avatar,” Miller says in an email.
“There is a lot of work involved to bring these characters to life and my area of expertise is in the face, and helping create the controls for animators to bring these characters to life,” he said.
In the movie, Bilbo heads out on adventure with a surly pack of dwarves and the wizard Gandalf. A star-studded cast will bring the characters to life.
“It's honestly quite humbling to be working on The Hobbit. I remember being enamored with the story as a young boy and using it as inspiration for my drawings,” Miller said.
Miller has worked on such blockbusters as Avatar, which wowed audiences with its visual effects in 2009. Since Avatar, he's also worked on Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Adventures of Tintin and Prometheus.
He grew up in Innisfail, completing two years of fine arts training at Red Deer College. He then did an eight-month part-time course in 3D at the Applied Multi-Media Training Centre in Calgary.
Miller's spent over 14 years in the industry, working in Calgary, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and now living in Wellington, New Zealand with his wife Kelly and children Marissa and Graeson.
While Miller's family hasn't made it back to Canada since moving to the southern hemisphere more than five years ago, they've gotten to travel around the area quite a bit, he said. He added they're hoping to make it back once he's done with The Hobbit.
He's been working on the movie for two years. It was originally meant to be two parts but Jackson made the call to add a third installment earlier this year.
“The decision for the third film took a lot of us by surprise, but at the same time we were pretty excited to continue working on such an amazing project,” Miller said.
There's quite a bit of pressure on everyone working on the films to make sure they hold up and exceed the standards set by the Lord of the Rings trilogy, he said.
He works on a team of about 12 people, but said there's about 1,000 people working at Weta Digital. However, with actors and people working on sets and props and more, he estimates there's close to 2,000 people working on bringing the movies to life.
When asked what it's like to work for a renowned director like Jackson, Miller said it's been amazing.
“Because of the vision and the type of films he likes to make and be associated with, (it) provides me with an opportunity to work in this industry at a pretty high level, and I get to work with some pretty amazing people,” he said.
The sequels to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and The Hobbit: There and Back Again, are expected out in 2013 and 2014 respectively.
